Development of a structured virtual reality curriculum for laparoscopic appendicectomy

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Medical Simulation
• Virtual Reality in Medicine

Background:

• Laparoscopic appendicectomy (LA) is a frequent emergency surgery, often performed by surgical trainees.
• Developing safe and effective training methods is crucial for improving surgical skills.
• Junior surgeons require controlled environments to hone their psychomotor abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a structured virtual reality (VR) curriculum for laparoscopic appendicectomy (LA).
• To enable junior surgeons to practice LA skills in a safe, simulated setting.
• To assess the validity and learning potential of a novel VR training program.

Main Methods:

• A prospective randomized study utilizing a high-fidelity VR simulator.
• Assessment of 35 novices and 25 experts to establish construct validity.
• Analysis of learning curves to evaluate skill acquisition.

Main Results:

• Five psychomotor tasks and all appendicectomy tasks exhibited construct validity.
• Significant learning was observed in most construct-valid tasks.
• A novel, goal-directed VR curriculum for LA was successfully developed.

Conclusions:

• A step-wise VR curriculum for LA is proposed, incorporating metrics, deliberate practice, and feedback.
• The framework supports structured learning and skill assessment.
• Future research should focus on implementation feasibility and skill transferability.